Paragliding in Lima

“Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.” – Leonardo Da Vinci

I’ve always dreamt of one day being able to soar above the skies. When I was young, I wanted to become an airline pilot, a parachute jumper or if not, Superman.

While career-wise it didn’t pan, my dream of being on the skies never dwindled out.

That’s why when I heard that you can paraglide in Lima, I knew that it was an opportunity I could not missed out.

Along the cliffs of Lima, a group of paragliders arrange daily paragliding trips. For 50 USD, they fly from Parapuerto in Parque de Amor for 15 minutes up the cliffs of Costa Verde overlooking the Pacific.

It was originally not part of the plan. As we went through our heavy schedule in Peru – doing the Inca trail, intercity travels, a wedding – me and my bank account weren’t really up for another activity.

I was there to accompany my friend to do her flight. But after being on the queue and seeing how it is, I’ve took on my #YOLO attitude and decided to go for it too.

On our first try, we couldn’t fly at first. We were on the queue waiting for our turn to fly when the organisers decided to pull it off as the winds were quite strong. We came home disappointed.

We went the next day, our last day in Lima. The queue was already long and I was worried that we won’t get the chance to fly. We queued for hours and as we got nearer the winds started to slow down. I thought, this was it, we are going to be asked to go home.

Until finally, “Sir, how many kilos are you?”. “68 kilos” the guy on my left responded. The booker looked it at me, “63 kilos”, I said. The booker looked at me and ushered me out of the queue. Since I’m lighter, it’s much easier for me to be carried up.

They strapped me into the harness. I gave my payment to my tandem paraglider. Once all is set, we went to our position. “I count to 3 and then you run”. And we were off!

As we soared onto the skies of Lima, I felt like a kid again. I felt like Peter Pan, off to Neverland. I felt like superman on a cape on soaring above the skies.

It was a fitting end for our trip, but a new beginning for a renewed wanderlust for the skies.

Have you been paragliding? How was your experience? Share your thoughts below!